MWBrazilBlog

 

Oludum is a well-known percussion, performance, pedagogical, and community service organization located in the historical center of Salvador (Bahia).  We have worked with them for years because of their community mission and the generosity and openness they have shown our University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students.

Its name evokes the name of the African deity Oludumare, and the group has strong roots in African-Brazilian culture.  It calls its rhythmic base “samba-reggae.”

The performance group carrying the name Oludum has performed with international artists such as Paul Simon and Michael Jackson, and it tours internationally.

Its cultural programs are aimed at Bahian youth who apprentice with Oludum to become percussionists, many going on to perform with various groups.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Study Abroad students are here taking instruction Jose Izqueirdo, accompanied and assisted by teen-aged apprentices of Oludum.

The student began first on rubber percussion stands and progressed to a variety of drums.

The photos and video show Jose with the apprentices and the UW-Milwaukee students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each time I visit Rio de Janeiro I vow to avoid the trip up the Corcovado to Cristo Redentor (the enormous Christ the Redeemer statue that is an icon of Rio).  But here we are again.

To conclude the Study Abroad trip the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students spent a day and a half in Rio de Janeiro, touring and preparing for the flight from Rio through Atlanta to Milwaukee.

Another obligatory stop in Rio is the cable gondola to the top of Sugar Loaf.  It goes in two stages, from a lower (but still high) promontory to the Sugar Loaf itself.  This trip was at the end of a chilly winter day, in time for the sunset and early darkness from the top.

The following day was a quieter, and warmer one, with the temperatures near 70 degrees (Rio de Janeiro winter but much like the Milwaukee summer) — with a ride on the municipal subway and long walk on the Copacabana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the central plaza of Salvador and in the street below the Pelourinho are two churches that symbolize the colonial past of Salvador.

The first is the Church of Saint Francis, dedicated to the saint dedicated to the poor.  In the Portuguese colonial times this dedication meant using some 600 slaves to construct the church, which features some 700 kilos of gold.

Saint Francis is  shown on the altar in a pose that appears martyr-like.

The rear of the church has a space where the non-consecrated could stand.  But not the slaves.  They were not part of the congregation, which was for centuries comprised of the “European” elite of Salvador.

During this period many slaves became expert craftspeople, working in precious metals, wood and stone.  Some of the carving in balustrades and dividing walls around the nave feature lush figures evocative of African fertility symbols, a sign of the artistic heritage that seems to subvert and resist the baroque European lavishness of the cathedral.

Church of Sao Francisco (Saint Francis)

 

 

 

The church of Saint Francis was built by, but not for, blacks in Salvador.  Barred from worship in the colonial baroque cathedral, they built their own church using the labor and craftsmanship that had built the larger European-style churches.

Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos is just below the plaza of the Pelourinho and called Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks.  It is simpler than the Church of  Saint Francis, but shows much of the same artisanship in construction.  Perhaps it could pass as one of the smaller European-style churches since black artisans had received their training in this form.

In an odd historical footnote, some of these artisans were able to return to Africa where they brought their skills with them.  This led to the unusual phenomenon of African houses of worship (generally on the Benin coast) that look like Portuguese-Brazilian parish churches.

Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos (Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks)

 

 

 

 

 

The church worships various figures that are represented as white — Our Lady of the Rosary and Saint Barbara.  But a special place is reserved for black saints such as Saint Benedict (Sao Bento), Saint Iphegenia, and Saint Lesbao.

Particularly honored in Anastasja — not a saint, but a symbol of the oppression of slaves.  She is known as a mistress/slave of a jealous master who first masked her to avoid her speaking, then eventually killed her.  She is honored in a special altar in the rear courtyard of the church.

 

In Salvador the two major styles are Capoeira Angola and Capoeira Nacional.  Both are tremendously strenuous and athletic, but Nacional seems a bit harder and combative.  Capoeira Angola is more graceful and some believe it has a gentler spiritual base.  Comparing it to the better-known martial arts forms in the United States, it seems more like the circularity and mindfulness of Aikido than the percussive striking of karate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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UW-Milwaukee spent time with several scholars and artists connected with the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and with public education in Salvador.  Their dance instruction was enriched by their intellectual and cultural commitment to preserving and interpreting the African-Brazilian tradition of Salvador.  This included instruction in Samba da Roda (a circular dance of women), orixa dances, the Maracatu, the Frevo  and others.

The instructors emphasized two elements of the movement class.  The first was teaching the form of movement associated with the dances.  The second emphasized the spiritual sense of the tradition and helped students innovate and move with some of their own interpretive skill.  This was particularly true of the orixa dances associated with Iemanja and Omulu.

 

Samba da Roda, class with Daniela Amoroso

 

The venue for the classes was an old Salvador house that had been abandoned for years and was now being renovated and refunctioned by Daniela Amoroso and others.  The spaces shown here are the older rooms used for celebration, instruction and other events.

 

 

 

Dances to the orixa Iemanja, Maracatu, Frevo with Denny Neves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interpretive Dance to Omulu with Marilza

Marilza devoted the class to dancing to Omulu, the ancient god of health and sickness and associated with the sun.  Orthodox Candomble has specific movements for representing and invoking Omulu, but this class was designed to be interpretive of the spirit of the orixa rather than the traditional movements that would be done in a terreiro (Candomble house of worship).  A highly elaborated variation of orixa dances can be seem in public performance of Salvador’s Bale Folclorico,  has developed a highly stylized and virtuoso set of movements or the orixas for public performance.

Here, Marilza discussed the attributes of Omulu and developed movement that was not literally from the Candomble ceremony but an interpretation of the spirit of the orixa Omulu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The visit to the north Maranhao area of  Barreirinhas was a hard days travel from Salvador to Sao Luis, followed by a 3-4 hour bus ride.  The object was to have a peaceful couple of days between the intensity of Salvador and the demands visiting and documenting the various elements of the Sao Luis Bumba-meu-boi festival.

But, first there was a hard day on the road, before reaching a riverside pousada.

This was followed by a more peaceful stay by the river Preguicas, which means “lazy” — reflecting the meandering of the river from the north of the state to the Atlantic.  It becomes more brackish as it nears the sea and the buriti and carnauba palms give way to mangrove shorelines.

 

 

 

 

 

Another native plant here is acai, which grows as a high bush or tree in the palm groves.  The berries seem to be about the size of ping-pong balls and grow in huge clusters high in the trees.

Although this region is a source of, the juice is harder to find; it must be picked by men who may have to reach the acai clusters by boat and then climb to harvest them.  Besides that, the acai fruit has legendary status with body builders and alternative food outlets — not to mention the U.S. where it is included in “magical” juice products.  It has a harsh taste, so in Brazil it is often mixed with (lots of) sugar or even manioc (yucca) flour.  As a result, acai is destined for expensive markets and not on the normal pousada breakfast table.  Abroad it is found mixed in small other amounts with other juices and rarely found in pure form.

This export-induced scarcity of acai is similar to coffee in Brazil, where it is said that best coffee was used for export and that of lesser quality was saved for the domestic market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, a non-scheduled visit to the Barreirinhas public clinic

One of the students was stung by a nasty local wasp.  Fortunately the wasp is well-known in the region and the emergency clinic had medications to counter the reaction.

 

 

 

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Study Abroad students spent much of two consecutive days with members of BmB da Floresta.  They received instruction in Tambor da Crioula, costume preparation and the embroidery techniques used by the group, and learned the basic floor movements of the dance of the indios.  The indios represent the indigenous people of Maranhao and are traditionally called tapuias.  Formerly danced only by men, women now dance as well.

Of the performative elements of the Baixada style, the indios/tapuias (both male and female) are usually the younger and most vigorous dancers.

Younger teenagers begin with simple version of the basic steps and eventually move up to the exotic costumes and steps of the more seasoned dancers.  The leaders of the indios are typically between their twenties and forties.

 

UW-Milwaukee students worked with members of BmB da Floresta to lean the basic steps.  First, the steps learned by the young girls and boys, then some variations for the more advanced tapuia dancers.

 

 

In the following video, UW-Milwaukee Study Abroad students are instructed by Talyene Melonio and Nadir Cruz.

 

Preparing the Costumes

The group leaders explained that they renew about 40% of the costumes from year to year.  A season or two of hour-by hour, night-by-night dancing shreds the costumes (and dancers) eventually.

BmB da Floresta  integrates young people of the neighborhood into the production of costumes.  Regular members do this as a matter of course, but the youth of this modest and difficult neighborhood can spend their off-hours in the culture and care of the Floresta group.  They learn costuming skills, get a snack and protection from the street, and can become part of the Bumba-meu-boi culture.

The group has received some outside government support in the past (under the title “Floresta Criativa”), but even without formal support they have a continuing workshop for costuming.

 

 

 

 

 

An important element of the Study Abroad trip is to explore the roots and interconnections of Afro-Brazilian culture and spiritual practice in Northeast Brazil.  These reflections are meant to provide a context students’ experience in Bahia, but you can skip the discursive sections and see the descriptions of the group’s experiences (with photos) below.

 

Some terms:

feijoada: a traditional Brazilian dish of beans (feijao), meat, served with rice and farofa (manioc flour).  The term also refers to an event at which this is the main dish.

Ogum: orixa from Afro-Brazilian spiritual practice.  Warrior and patron of iron workers.  Often syncretized with Saint George, but also with Saint Anthony.

Our Lord of the Good End (Nosso Senhor do Bonfim: A Brazilian Catholic church in Salvador that is also the site of various Afro-Brazilian practices.

Navigating the Syncretism of Salvador

Even though a majority of Brazilians are nominal Catholics, many are also practitioners of various spiritual practices of African heritage.  Candomble is the best known, but there are various other forms across Brazil.  Often they derive from the same West African spiritual matrix, but there are many African nations and cultures represented — including Yoruba, Fon, Jeje, Nago and many others.  In Salvador Candomble is considered to be of largely Yoruba origins and it has been “purified” and refreshed in recent decades through a process of “reafricanization” that removed many of the new world practices and spiritual entities.

Yet, there are many variations in practice.  In some spiritual houses there are entities of New World origin also worshiped (including Catholic saints). Thus, being active in Salvadoran spiritual communities may involve a nominal — even intense — Catholicism,  and a possible association with a house of Candomble.

Cultural Survival and Continuity

In the history of Brazilian slavery the Portuguese “slavocrats” (escravocrata, as they are called in the history books) tried to separate families, linguistic groups and the diverse cultures of the slaves who were brought to Brazil.  This had the result of mixing the cultures and enforcing the Portuguese language as the lingua franca for all.  There had been earlier attempted led by Jesuits to establish Nheengatu as the general language (lingua geral) of Brazil.  The language was based on the indigenous Tupi and Guarani languages.  The Jesuits generally opposed the slavery of indigenous peoples and this brought them into conflict with the plantation owners and slavers.  As a result the Jesuits were withdrawn from Brazil by the Portuguese government which, under regent Marquis de Pombal, sided with the slavers.  Subsequent slavery shifted from indigenous peoples to imported Africans and the Portuguese language was enforced.

In spite of repression, the African languages survived in part, as did the practices that came from the various peoples and nations of Africa.  Various deities such as orixas had  commonalities from one African group to another.  This allowed a maintenance of common tradition, although mixing of spiritual entities (orixas and others) and languages, all with an overlay of Portuguese language and an enforced Catholic culture.  Other entities entered African-Brazilian practice from indigenous traditions, but these are stronger in areas such as Maranhao than in Salvador.

Salvadoran spiritual culture embraces Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian spiritual practice – sometimes with an attempted purity in one or the other, but often combined in private and public practice.  The usual term is syncretism, which is used here roughly to mean the identification of African entities and deities with the saints of the Catholic  Church so that one could worship both, or appear to worship the official religion while privately identifying with African entities.  Various authorities search a proper term for this syncretism — sometimes seeing a merging of saints and orixas, sometimes a submerging and camouflage of African belief beneath the practices and saints of entities of Catholicism, and sometimes seeing the two as “oil and water” that mix and coexist but do not merge.

A Contemporary Example: A day in a village near Salvador

This particular day  in Salvador was a mix of all these unique northeast Brazilian traditions.

A friend from a capoeira class took us to a modest village/bairro about forty minutes from the center of Salvador where we visited a celebration for the orixá Ogum.  It was a small, mostly orthodox house of Candomble (terreiro) but this was not a completely formal ceremony.  The public was invited to share the food (a traditional dish of beans and rice with the meat of an ox, freshly prepared for the event).

The ceremony was presided over by a man who served as the administrator, guide, sexton and director of the event.  He oversaw the drummers, signaled the percussion rhythms to be played and gently guided the event.

The central figure was the mae de santos (“Mother of Saints,” the spiritual leader of the terreiro).  She led the dancing, cared for the novitiates, and guided the spiritual integrity of the celebration.

A few elements of the event:

By tradition there are three drums of determined sizes  They play specific rhythms for each entity (orixá) to be invoked, and each rhythm accompanies a specific dance movement for the orixá.

The high points in the ceremony occur when a novitiate “receives” an entity and embodies it.  In this tradition the entities have not bodies and communicate with the believing community through the bodies of the novitiates.  This occurs during the period of drumming and dancing when one of the devotees enters what appears to be a trance that signals the presence of the orixá.

The presence of the entity in the dancer is signaled by the placement of a special shawl that also serves to support the person so that he or she does not fall.

After the ceremony we got a special introduction to the various resting places of the orixás.  Some are simple figures, some might seem to be altars, and others are resting places for the entities with specially-prepared covers and offerings.

The ceremony we saw was dedicated to Ogum, the orixá of war and iron.  There was a small altar to him in the courtyard of the terreiro.

There is no strict syncretism or convergence of orixas and Catholic saints that is valid for all terreiros and traditions.   However, there are some commonalities that are recognizable despite variations by region and tradition.  For example, Ogum is broadly associated with St. George, but in many Candomble houses in Salvador Ogum is associated with St. Anthony (whose day is June 13, the day of his death).  On this afternoon the feijoada and ceremony were dedicated to the African-Brazilian entity Ogum, but the same terreiro was celebrating Saint Anthony that evening.  The ox that had been slaughtered for Ogum during the day would serve for Saint Anthony in the evening.

The terreiro also had a pantheon of orixás they honored, including

Iemanja (goddess of the sea,and often syncretized with some attributed of the Virgin Mary)

Ogum, god of iron an war (usually syncretized with Saint George).  Patron of iron workers and warriors.

 

 

Yansa/Iansa, goddess of the wind and tempest.  Wife of Xango, the god of thunder and fire.  Sansa is often syncretized with Saint Barbara, a 3rd century saint who was executed by her Roman father because she had adopted the Catholic faith.

Omulu (also called Obaluae or Babaluae): in Candomble and other Afro-Brazilian spiritual practices Omulu is the spiritual entity (oriya) associated with sickness and health.  Usually a male, but sometimes a female, Omulu is often syncretized or associated with the Catholic Saint Lazarus (for a bit of trivia, see the Note below).

Many of the figures were at rest, covered in a protected space — so I don’t have a photo from that terriero.  But here are some images from various festivals in which the figure is danced.

 

 

 

Oxala, an orixa whose gentleness is often associated with Jesus.

 

Interesting, this terreiro seemed not to have fully “reafricanized” by purging itself of Brazilian entities that entered the practice in the New World.  There were caboclos, representative of the indigenous chiefs of the forest; and there was Pombagira, a sensual entity.  She is presented in red, drinking wine and smoking.  Often she is adopted as the patron of prostitutes and has gained popularity among gay Brazilians as well.  She is often not included in the orthodox pantheon of Candomble, but has a wide popular appeal.

 

 

Nosso Senhor do Bonfim

To complete the syncretistic tour of Salvador we ended the day at the famous church of “Our Lord of the Good End.” the name refers to Jesus Christ, who is also associated with the Afro-Brazilian entity Oxala.  So far as we know, this is the largest and most famous Catholic church (and perhaps the only one) that includes Oxala in its worship.  On special occasions the devotees of Oxala attend a special mass wearing symbolic white gowns with read sashes or scarves.  Uniquely, the worship is of both Oxala and Jesus.

The church is also site of another unique syncretic practice.  Once a year traditional Salvadoran women (Bahaianas) form a procession of several miles and walk/dance several miles from the harbor in the lower city to the church.  There they wash the steps of the Church to purify it for the orixás.  In the procession they also carry figures of Yemanja (also Iemanja), the goddess of the sea, mother of all orixás, and also a figure of Our Lady of Conception.  She is also represented by a sereia, or mermaid.

In his famous novel Mar Morto,  Jorge Amado says that sailors are blessed to drown in the arms of Iemanja—a romantic death that the figures in the novel do not seem to seek out with a lot of enthusiasm. However, the legend offers the consolation that someone lost at sea is in arms of the mother of all who love the sea.

 

( Note: Older readers and late-night viewers of a comedy channel may vaguely recall the Lucille Ball show in which her husband, Desi Arnaz, would often be shown with his band singing Babalu…Babaluae.  This is a 1930’s Cuban song that references the West African heritage of many Cubans Africa-descendants.  In Cuba the practice is often called Santeria and is related to the same broad African cultural matrix as Candomble practice.)

More than a week has gone by since the Study Abroad group left the Midwest, and there has not been much free time for writing and reflection.  This is a bit of a reconstruction of the trip so far.

The trip looked like this:

At first, airport after airport.  We left on Monday (June 8) and flew from Milwaukee through Atlanta to Rio de Janeiro, then finally to Salvador in Bahia.

In Rio there was the usual wandering through customs and resettling the luggage on a regional flight — which, of course, has somewhat different baggage policies than the international flights.  Since I am carrying an extra hard-case of camera equipment the customs officials enjoy looking through the gear to make sure it is old (it is, much of it older than I would like), and patiently listening my explanation in Portuguese (well rehearsed at this point) that I am the assistant and photographer for a university Study Abroad class.

Sometimes that works, but if not we go on to talk about our research in the Northeast.  The customs officials understand pesquisador (researcher), and fotografo, and journalista — some combination of which will usually get me through (while the students are patiently waiting).  If that were not enough, I normally set off the alarms with a steel shoulder replacement, which lights up the monitoring equipment as if I were a walking bomb.  Looking as harmless as possible, I try to enjoy being patted down in  variety of languages.  I am thinking about having a multilingual sign made that says something like “I am a harmless photographer with a few renovated body parts, none of which explode.”

What they really want to know is if I will explode or try to clandestinely sell smuggled equipment.

None of this compares, though, with the trip a few years ago when we brought back a four-foot puppet ox from the festival.  It was a cherished gift that was understood by everyone in Maranhao, but each airport closer to home found  greater and greater incomprehension.  Then we also realized that it was a large artifact with many places to smuggle this or that.  We did confirm that the ceremonial herbs in the ox’s horns were not on anyone’s wanted list or would be sniffed out by the drug beagles in the U.S.

Monday & Tuesday Airplane and airports (Milwaukee, Atlanta, Rio de Janeiro and, finally, Salvador in Bahia)

Tuesday Land in Rio de Janeiro, wander through customs, transfer to Salvador (Bahia) flight

Arrive in Salvador in the afternoon, looking and feeling our very best, test our land legs, attack a local restaurant (stupendous “Red Fish,” Red Snapper or what is called Huachinango in Spanish) — about 50 feet from the sea.

 

 

Wednesday

Downtown Salvador (Pelourhino)
Samba da Roda classes from a folklorist/scholar
Walking tour of Pelourhino (including two churches — “Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks,” the old Salvadoran slave church, and the Church of San Francisco (built by slaves with about 700 kilos of gold and a bit more ostentation that you might expect for a church dedicated to the saint of the poor and animals. On the other hand, his image looks a bit cruciform and agonistic — as it he were a bit pained at what was done in his name)

 

The best place to sample regional cuisine is the remarkable  SENAC,  a culinary institute that trains its students in the hospitality industry, particularly in preparing and serving Bahian specialities.  It includes some of the best that African/Brazilian cuisine has to offer (some of which, of course, like Acaraje, are the preferred foods of various orixas).

 

 

The evening program was back to the Pelourinho historical center for a performance of the Bale Folklorico da Bahia, whose program is based on stylized movement related to Afro-Brazilian culture — West African deities (orixas), Brazilian/African martial arts (capoeira), and a rural  samba (Samba da Roda) that predates by generations the social dance form and Carnaval form of samba that is more widely known to visitors.

 

The evidence of Afro-Brazilian/Catholic is so pervasive that the most famous church here has a special service for Oxala, the syncretized version of Jesus Christ. A very high percentage of Salvadorans are African-descendants or mixtures with a high African cultural component, and many (perhaps most) practice both Catholicism and Candomble.

 

 

Thursday

Ecology day: Day at Praia da Forte where Projeto Tamar has created a preserve for giant turtles who breed on these shores but were nearly wiped out by predatory fishing and capture for commercial products. It is a beautiful fishing port, where the old pattern of predatory fishing that endangered the turtles has been turned into a preserve.  Projeto Tamar creates local jobs in the preservation effort and in the associated tourist industry.  Hundreds of families are supported by making products and providing services at Praia da Forte.

Praia da Forte is a site of Projeto Tamar, a broad program to preserve the habitat of the huge turtles.

 

Almost every day’s activities leads back to the Pelourinho area in the historic cultural center.  The word refers to a whipping post once used in the square for the public punishment of slaves.  It is now a center of Afro-Brazilian culture and tourist activity.  The Bahaianas are a kind of welcoming committee sponsored by various stores.  The one on the right is an old friend — she remember us from a few years ago when I got separated from the group while taking photos.  The Bahaiana told them where to find the “tall guy in the white hat.”  On this visit she assured the group that she would keep track of me again this year.

These Bahaianas are a touristic/commercial phenomenon, but they evoke an older cultural history.  The street trade in food and crafts was dominated by free slave women and they have been a presence in the center of Salvador for centuries.  This is also the dress of the women of the Afro-Brazilian spiritual practice of Candomble.  Bahaianas dominate the Candomble houses and hold a major spiritual process from the lower city/harbor of Salvador to the church of “Our Lord of the Good End” (Nossa Senhor do Bonfim) where they carry an image of the oriya Iemanja (or Yemanja) and wash the steps of the church to purify it for the Afro-Brazilian entities known as orixas.  This syncretism is particularly strong in Salvador for many reasons — including the high concentration of African descendants in Salvador (and the surrounding state of Bahia), the emergence of an urban commercial culture of freed (manumitted) slaves, and the durability and tenacity of African-based cultural forms in the region.

More about this complicated connection between Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian practice in later posts.

 

 

 

 

The first phase of our research is a study-abroad course taught through the Department of Dance, Peck School of the Arts, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  A similar class has been offered twice before, and we have been accompanied in other years by undergraduate research students who were supported by the university to carry out original research on Northeast Brazilian cultura popular.

The course includes the study of samba, capoeira (the Brazilian martial art), religious institutions and history, Afro-Brazilian spiritual culture, music and dance.  All of the students have had training in dance or capoeira, and will be given additional instruction during the trip.

 

 

Simone  Ferro leads the class, assisted by Meredith Watts who is also the project photographer (and blogger).  Together they have led classes and conducted research in Brazil for nearly a decade.  They have presented a number public presentations and academic papers on the Northeast Brazilian dance/festival known as the Bumba-meu-boi, and are in the last stages of developing a book on the struggle between heritage culture (“tradition”) and modernization (innovation and change) in organization, performance, funding, politics, religion, race, generational change, and gender transformations in the Bumba-meu-boi.  The festival, like capoeira, samba and  religious practice in the Northeast, show the strong interaction of indigenous, European and African cultural elements in the making of Brazil’s culture.

 

The class left for Salvador (Bahia) in early June, moved on to Sao Luis (Maranhao), and concluded with a brief stopover in Rio  de Janeiro on the way back to theUnited States.  This timing allowed students to observe the “Saint’s Days” of celebration in Sao Luis, where the events are marked by the days in the religious calendar honoring Saint John (Sao Joao), Saint Peter (Sao Pedro), and Saint Martial (Sao Marcal).